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Day 11 – A book that made me cry

It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to…

I have a confession to make: I cry at adverts (I’m talking about ones that are about animal rescue or child abuse, not shake ‘n vac or oven chips!). It’s harder to make me cry at a book, however, but when one does make me cry it’s because the author has made me care. There are a few books that have made me wipe a tear from the corner of my eye, but only the odd one that has made me openly weep. One that almost made this post was My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult. I remember reading this on a sunlounger at a villa we stayed at in Gozo (an island belonging to Malta); this was the first Picoult I had read so I wasn’t familiar with her style of throwing a twist in at the end of the book at that time. What happened in the epilogue took me by such surprise that it completely threw me – I had come to care about the characters so much and I hadn’t seen the ending coming at all 😦

However, the book I have chosen is one that broke my heart when I read it. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is narrated by Death and follows a young girl in Germany in WW2 as she is sent to live with strangers: the characters in this book are genuinely endearing and when the ending hits you, it will hit you with the force of a freight train. I sobbed my heart out! We read this book for my book group years ago and every single person (bar one) loved it and most admitted to shedding a tear. I remember walking around in a daze for days afterwards as I tried to come to terms with the impact it had had on me. If you don’t so much as get a lump in your throat upon finishing this book, I’m afraid to say you just may have a heart of stone. Fact.

I totally agree about the Book Thief – a four hankies job. I don’t usually get on with this kind of borderline magic realist style but this was so beautifully written that I was swept along by it. It reminded me a little of the Tin Drum.

I find Jodi Picoult so tiresome, her books are pretty much all same thing, and I got fed up with them after the three I read so I don’t bother with her anymore. (sorry Ms Picoult) I don’t have a heart made of stone, but it does take something to make me emotional over human beings (other than family) animal abuse will make me teary a lot more than say watching Comic Relief. So when it comes to books, it’s even harder for me to be moved to tears and I didn’t think it was going to happen until I read The Book of Negroes. This is the only book to ever make me shed actual tears, it was towards the end of the book and I almost gasped 🙂

Oh I m going loss credibility here lol but Marley and me and walking ollie both made me cry I like them as a dog owner they touched my heart sorry nothing profound or translated boof I did cry at the film of my sisters keeper Amanda want to watch it all the best stu

I read a book years ago called After Ruth. It was about a woman who had cancer (fiction)… I dont why it surprised me… after all the book was called AFTER Ruth, but I remember sitting on the couch in the wee hours of the morning when I finished sobbing as though I had just attended her funeral.

Book Thief is another one, and like you – anything with neglect of animals or children….

The Book Thief is quite a book. It’s definitely one of my all time favourite books.

I read Five Chimneys by Olga Lengyel a couple of years back and it was so moving I had tears running down my face and had to stop reading a couple of times. It’s one woman’s account of her time at Auschwitz.

I am a cryer, but the book that had me weeping and wailing was Winter Garden by Kristen Hannah. Oh my gosh- such a good book, but I was so glad I was alone in the house so no one was there to see my breakdown. I highly recommend it just be sure to stock up on tissues first.

I cried and cried in a book that our book club have recently read called ‘Between Shades Of Gray’ by Ruta Sepetys. This book has only been published in March 2011 and is brilliant. My favourite book EVER. One girl in our book club said she cried from page 1. A depressing storyline but beautiful at the same time. Do yourself a favour and read this book. I’d love to know what you think.

The Book Whisperer

Hello and welcome to The Book Whisperer blog. My name is Rebecca and I am a bookaholic. I have a very serious book-buying habit that I have yet to find a cure for.

In this blog I read, review and discuss books - big books, small books, fat books, thin books, books that make me laugh, books that make me cry, books that fizz off the pages, books that have me chasing down dark alleys, books that shock me and WTF books.

“I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.” I hear ya, Jorge Luis Borges.